Equipment found

As the night went by, only the sound of crickets filled the silence alongside the cracking of fire.

Eventually, I could no longer bother trying to stay awake and I laid down on the grass, the cold earth bearable thanks to the nearby fire.

-x-x-x-

Imbellis blinked in surprise at how relaxed the human in front of him was, was she not afraid he would do something while she was sleeping? He could easily overpower her without that pointy stick, and even with it, it wouldn't be particularly difficult.

Hell, he overheard that human women were particularly sought out as partners since everyone considered them attractive, this put them at greater risk, further escalating tensions between human and non-human races.

The point being, that the human in front of him was either way too trusting, way too stupid, or so ignorant that she should get a standing ovation for it.

Well, considering the state her clothes are in, she probably went through hell so far, not to mention that weird thing floating above her head.

Imbellis had never seen something like that before, it looked weird, unnatural almost, like a normal person should never have such a thing.

Imagine a beggar wearing the most luxurious crown ever created, it felt like that, and he didn't know why either, he had no idea what that thing was.

Imbellis shook his head. He had no intention of harming the girl, and he couldn't do anything else even if he wanted to.

Another thing Imbellis marveled at was that she wasn't concerned about being ambushed while asleep, he never slept in the wild unless someone was watching his back, because he found the idea of being eaten while defenseless and waking up to the pain of being eaten alive very uncomfortable.

Rather, he was scared witless of it.

Even when with other people, he always had a hard time falling asleep when it was not in a completely secure location.

She must have survived thanks to the fire she sleeps close to. He thought to himself.

So Imbellis continued to stay awake through the entire night, keeping the fire healthy and bright.

-x-x-x-

In the morning, I was startled to find the Beastman was awake before me, and the fire was still going, although it looked like it was on its last legs.

He must have kept watch the whole night, how kind of him.

I got up and did some light stretching, after that, I gathered my belongings and waved the Beastman goodbye.

Seems like he got what I was trying to say, and he waved back in response.

I turned and traveled through the hills, the plain hills rolling, the wind making very cool-looking patterns appear in the grass.

After about two hours of walking through the forest, I discovered dried-up blood on the ground, which formed a path toward the lake where I was staying.

This must have been left behind by the Beastman while his knee was still bleeding, I decided to follow the trail to see where it would lead me.

After an hour of walking, I left the forest again, and after a few minutes of walking, I smelled a salty stench in the air.

It smelled like some kind of thick musk, the smell was so intense that I gagged instinctively when I smelled it.

Soon enough, I found the remains of ripped-up clothing, and I realized what must have happened.

Now I know why the arrow looked so poorly made, the goblins must have done this.

Interestingly enough, there were no bodies, and the ripped pieces of cloth were clearly from armor and thick leather.

The only intact piece of equipment was some metallic-looking armor with a red cloak attached to it, at the waist of the armor a normal shortsword could be seen, the only piece missing was the helmet for whatever reason, and the shield, maybe the goblins were too weak or too... busy to carry the full armor away.

I looked at it, then looked at my shabby clothing, and then proceeded to thank whatever universal force finally decided to give me a break.

No more eating contaminated eggs from the filthy ground like an animal and being dressed like a hobo!

I spent the next half an hour figuring out how I put the armor on, but when I did I noticed it shrunk itself to perfectly fit my size. (The armor looks just like on the book cover, the sword is a normal shortsword, not the fancy one.)

This thing was probably incredibly expensive if it could do this.

With my newly gained armor, I continued to explore the area, searching for any signs of the goblins.

I can't exactly go ask for help, and I refuse to leave these poor girls to their fate of being goblin baby machines.

Even considering it made me wanna throw up, I don't want to imagine in what state they'll be by the time I rescue them.

And so, my search continued for a few more hours, fruitless for now

-x-x-x-

Human Dame POV (Dame = knight)

Being kidnapped by goblins is arguably the worst fate for any woman being an adventurer, and the little gremlins are the primary reason why most women don't dare risk leaving the bigger cities.

I and my companions are different of course, we needed the money -that armor was very expensive too- and as we gained money and strength we became rather well known, enough to be sent on our first big monster-hunting quest.

I never expected goblins to be so dangerous, and to be honest, none of us did.

Now I understand the looks of sympathy everyone gave us, but it's far too late to be regretting things now.

Imbellis, that coward, ran away, which, when I think back on it, was probably the right choice considering the situation.

He will definitely run to the city, I can only pray he will inform the guild and they will rescue us before we are complete goners.

They carried us away from the woods we were near into another forest around a kilometer away, and then they carried us to the middle of that forest.

At this point, we were in front of a large hollowed-out tree, surrounded by many more such trees.

So this is their nest? well, at least we won't be in some moist cave in which we can barely breathe. 

My companions tried to kick and scream at first when we were carried away...

But let's say they got their mouths stuffed rather quickly.

I felt a shiver of disgust go up my spine as I remembered the feeling of my armor being stripped from me, their grubby hands intentionally feeling up every part of me.

I certainly didn't plan on losing my virginity like that, but what can be done?

We are doomed.

As I thought this, the goblins began carrying us inside.

God, please, save us.

...

Nobody came, though the goblins certainly did, screams of agony turned into a dead silence as my companions were broken one by one, and soon enough, I would break too.

I'm sure all of them are pregnant already, poor girls will have to live with such creatures inside them for the following years.

I now understand why people rescued from goblin nests killed themselves shortly afterward, I always thought they were weak and pathetic even for throwing their life away after such a "slight inconvenience."

I feel so stupid now...

As I thought this, more goblins entered the room, inviting another hour of pure mental torture.

-x-x-x-

The three women were not aware that, while God may not be listening, a certain Alexandria was hot on the trail.

Her armor clanked loudly as she sprinted, unaware of the fact that her halo was growing brighter and her body gained strength with the only thing on her mind being the slaughtering of goblins.

The forest in front of her was silent, not even the rustle of birds and bugs flying and chirping could be heard, giving the entire forest a strange vibe.

Alexandria took a deep breath and rushed into the forest.

-x-x-x-

Thank god I found those signs of battle out in the fields, seems like the girls tried to resist one last time before they were carried to the forest, if they didn't, I don't think I would have found them.

I'm no tracker, I only came to this forest after seeing drag marks heading toward here from that last-ditch attempt at escape.

The goblins got Cocky and stopped covering their tracks. That's the last mistake they would ever make.

Shortly after I entered the forest, I stopped running and started to walk more carefully.

I still made some noise, heavy armor wasn't made for stealth, but it was better than stomping on twigs and leaves WITH the noise generated by heavy armor.

The sun started to set soon enough, but at that moment I heard the sound of goblin laughter and snorting.

I slowly walked up to it, hiding behind a bush with some red berries on it, and observed what seemed to be two goblins on patrol.

Great! I can follow these guys back to their nest!

...that's what I thought before one of them shouted and pointed at my halo.

...I forgot about the halo, and I can't hide it either since without it I lose a noticeable amount of strength.

The goblins were luckily enough unaware of what the halo was, so they slowly approached me while pointing some crude spears with stone ends my way.

My silver armor also didn't make it very possible to hide, so when they noticed the glint of my armor, I charged out sword in hand.

They both stumbled back in panic and stabbed at my chest, which did nothing but lightly scrape my armor.

With a single slash of my sword, I snapped off the tips of their spears, making them shriek in fear.

Both of them turned to run.

I threw my sword, only to realize I had no idea how to do that with any measure of accuracy midway through.

So the hilt of my sword hit the goblin's back, making it turn its head around in confusion.

Before it could reach out and grab the sword, I ran up and kicked it away, making it tumble to the ground.

With a quick stomp on its neck, I crushed its windpipe and spine causing it to die.The second goblin had made a decent distance now, so I grabbed my sword and sprinted after it.

The smart little creature made as much noise as it possibly could, probably screaming for help.

Shit. The entire forest can probably hear it. 

It turns out that yes, the entire forest did hear it, and soon enough I heard what could only be described as an army approaching.

The smug little shit turned around, licked its lips, and jumped up into the trees.

Ah, so that was the plan.

He was luring me deeper into the forest so that I couldn't escape their encirclement.

The shouting wasn't begging for help but letting the other goblins know where we were at all times in a calculated manner. 

I wasn't able to catch up to it because it knew the terrain better than me.

The little bastard planned this from the start.

I thought my knowledge from Goblin Slayer would prevent me from underestimating the goblins, but I guess not.

Around me right now were about 10 goblins, 8 were archers while 2 had primitive spears.

More were rushing over, it wasn't difficult to hear since they were the only thing in this forest that seemed to make any noise.

Shit, I don't want to be rapped by some goblins, not now and not ever!